Shuttle tension



P. DOERSELN SHUTTLE TENSION Filed March 1. 1939 r Jil 0 i ii INVENTOR,

ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to shuttles for broad looms and its object is toprovide such a shuttle with a tension means which shall be bothefficient to control the tension and capable of being threaded withoutrecourse to the usual hook or equivalent expedient for effectingthreading. It is intended that, the quill or other thread-supply beingusually already in the shuttle, the threading may be effected by astrain on the thread while maintaining it between the point of the pulland the quill in contact with a part of the tension means. Thisoperation may be performed by hand or it may occur entirelyautomatically on the stroke of the shuttle in the appropriate direction,as in looms which either renew the thread-supply of the shuttle orreplace the entire shuttle on exhaustion of weft or filling.

According to the invention, given the fixed structure of a shuttlehaving a top cavity, and in the cavity a quill or equivalentthread-supply arranged to deliver toward one end of said structure,there is a delivery-control device, as a lever, for the thread which ismovable in the cavity and yieldingly urged to a given limit, and saiddevice and structure have portions which, when said device is at saidlimit, intermesh with each other and together provide surfacesconverging downwardly and forming between them an open intake-crotch forthe thread, one of the parts formed by said structure and device havingmeans to catch and obstruct upward displacement of the thread when ithas been passed below the point of convergence of said surfaces. Inpractice, said surfaces converge toward a vertical longitudinal plane ofthe shuttle and said means is above a straight line between the quilland a surface of the shuttle structure, forward of its cavity, on whichthe thread may rest in the threading operation, whereby the ultimatetautening of the thread to straight state will cause it to underlie saidmeans, which of course maintains it in controlled state.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a. plan view of a shuttle embodying the invention and Fig. 2is a right side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 shows the shuttle body in plan, with the tension unit removed;

Fig. 4 is a section on line l4, Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 shows said unit in plan with the thread shown dotted as about toenter, and'shown in full as having entered, into control of said unit;

Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are respectively a right side, left side and rearelevation of said unit; and

Fig. 9 is a profile view of the parts of the sup port and lever of thetension unit directly active to control and tension the thread andshowing the thread about to enter between them.

The shuttle body I has the usual cavity 2 to receive the quill orweft-thread-supply core 3 and in the cavity there may be the crossinggroups of bristles 4 past some of which when the shuttle is initiallythreaded the thread springs to be thereupon held by the bristles againstundue up or down displacement between the quill and the tension unit.The forward part of the cavity has its bottom elevated and forms arecess 5 shaped to receive and fit the tension unit, and communicatingwith this is a generally V-shaped opening 6 extending to the outer sideof the shuttle body; extending forwardly from the recess is a top groove7 in which the thread is to lie on the initial stroke of the shuttle tothe left.

The tension unit includes a support which may be generally described asincluding a base 8, a longitudinally extending upright wall 9 and anupright ll opposed to and spaced from the rear end of the wall 9, bothof these rising from the base.

The base 8 has a pair of depending lugs to to enter and fit sockets lain the bottom of the cavity; the support is held in the shuttle by ascrew H extending through the near side of such body and tapped into thewall 9. Thus the support forms a part of the fixed structure of theshuttle.

The wall 9 is formed as follows: At its forward end and projectingtherefrom forwardly and also laterally outwardly is a projection l2formed to abut the rear side of opening 6 but to exist short of theforward side thereof, thus to leave a slot l3 which leads to an outlet Min the near side of the shuttle body, the ends of such outlet beingafforded by thread-guide pins 55, one of which may be mounted in thebody and the others in said projection. The shuttle body forward of theslot and said projection rearwardly of the slot are rounded off, as atit; so also is the top outer surface of the projection, as at i'i. Theprojection forms a horn or beak projecting forwardly-the slot beinginclined, as shown-and also projecting inwardly, its terminus l8extending more or less past a vertical longitudinal plane coincidentwith the gripping device 24. From the inner side of the wall 9 reachupper and lower series of three projections l9, those of one seriesbeing directly above those of the other, and each two projections, upperand lower, joined by a pin 28 which is set back from the ends of the twoprojections. The top projections are beveled, as shown, in the directionrelatively away from the near side of recess 5. Each two projections andcorresponding pin form what I term a thread rest of which the threadrest proper is the pin. The top surface of wall 9, where it includes thetops of the upper projections, is rounded off as indicated at 22.

The upright no is bifurcated as seen in end elevation, its crotchopening toward the far side of the shuttle. A vertical pivot pin 23penetrates the two arms of the upright and on this: is fulcrumed atension-lever serving as the deliverycontrol device and formed as willappear.

The wall 9 and upright ii) support the members of a well-known threadgripping means constructed as follows Two opposed upright blades 26,having their upper ends diverging, are confined in the space betweenwall 9 and upright It! by a pin 25 in wall 9 and penetrating the blades.A light spring 26 presses the blades against the upright, being arrangedin a suitable bore in wall 9 and backed by an adjusting screw 21.

In this example the mentioned lever is formed of a suitable length ofwire having one end developed as a coil 23. At equal intervals of itslength it is formed with a series of rebends 29, all in the same planesubstantially perpendicular to the axis of the coil and all projectingsubstantially perpendicularly to the alined intervening portions 3!} ofthe wire. All these rebends are bent upwardly, as at St, substantiallyrightangularly and all in the same plane, and their terminals are bentoff at an upward incline toward the vertical plane of the portions til;in plan, these terminal portions, though parallel, may be divertedtoward the front end of the shuttle. A light spring 32, coiled aroundpin 23 and having its ends engaged with coil 28 and the support, tendsto hold the lever in the position shown, being adapted to yield to thelever when the latter is subjected to force tending to turn itanticlockwise, as that of the thread in threading the shuttle.

To prevent the thread finding an inoperative position under the lever, apin 33 projects from the support well beyond the alined portions 39 ofthe lever.

Viewing those parts which are shown in Fig. 9 as they there appear, thelever being in its normal position, a crotch exists arranged to receivethe thread a and which is formed by the downwardly converging surfacesof the lever terminals 31a and of those parts of the support whichproduce the upper projections I9. In a plane below this crotch areshoulders, being the under sides of said projections, and these formmeans to catch and obstruct upward displacement of the thread when ithas been passed below the point of convergence of said surfacedEssentially, whether the operation of threading is done by hand or inthe loom, the thread in the latter case being in some known way heldwhile the shuttle moves to the left, such operation is as follows: Thethread is subjected to a pull while resting the mentioned crotch and (itbeing understood that the point of convergence of the crotch above thelevel of the quill) with the thread initially held arched by the tensionmeans. Under the pull and in the eifort to straighten, the thread crowdsthe lever away from the support, the lever shifting anti-clockwise, andin its ultimately straightened state assumes a position between theportions 3i of the lever and said support. Actually, in its straightenedstate it underlies the upper projections H), which thereafter preventits upward displacement from b tween the lever and support. This will beso if the thread is supported forward of.the tension unit as well as bythe quill back of it below the level of the means, as the upperprojections it, which are to retain it against upward displacement.

While the horn i 2 is not indispensable it is present to insureinevitably the complete threading. That is to say, if for any reason thelever should be disposed temporarily not to respond to the pressure ofthe thread as the latter seeks to straighten when the shuttle moves tothe left, then on the next pick to the right the thread would be cammedby the under side of the horn toward outlet I4, developing in a bightwhich would insure retraction of the lever and hence the completethreading.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, with the fixed structure of a shuttle, the samehaving a top cavity and between said cavity and one end of the structurea top thread-supporting surface, and a thread-' supply in the cavityarranged to deliver toward one end of said structure, of adelivery-control device for the thread movable in the cavity betweensaid supply and end and yieldingly urged to a given limit, said deviceand structure having portions which, when said device is at said limit,intermesh with each other and which together provide surfaces convergingdownwardly and form between them an open intake-crotch for the thread,one of the parts formed by said structure and device having means tocatch and obstruct upward displacement of the thread when it has beenpassed below the point of convergence of said surfaces and said meansbeing at a level above the thread when it extends straight from saidthread-supporting surface to the threadsupply.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 characterized by said devicebeing a lever fulcrumed in said structure.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 characterized by said devicebeing a lever fulcrumed in said structure and having its fulcrum uprightand between said coactive portions and the threadsupply.

' 4. The combination set forth in claim 1 characterized by said surfacesconverging toward a vertical longitudinal plane of said structure.

5. In combination, with a shuttle body having a quill-receiving cavity,a recess relatively forward of and forming an extension of the cavityand a notch leading from the recess through one side and to the exteriorof the body, of an elongated support arranged in and at the side of therecess adjoining said side of the body and spaced from the opposite sideof the recess and having a forward horn-forming projection extendinglaterally into the notch and forming with the part of the body forwardof said notch an upwardly open slot and a thread outlet with which theslot at its lower end communicates, said support having relativelyrearward of the notch and arranged lengthwise of the shuttle a series ofspaced thread rests each reaching from but short of said opposite sideof the recess and beveled at its top in the direction away from thefirst-named side of the recess and providing below its bevel anoverhanging thread-retaining shoulder, and

said support providing rearwardly of the series of rests a projectionreaching toward said opposite side of the recess, a delivery-controllever fulcrumed on said projection on a vertical axis spaced from thefirst-named side of the recess and having a plurality of upstandingthread rest portions registering respectively with the spaces

